looking up at the sky. Raindrops hit his face, and from the nearby apartment with its illuminated window, the shouts of drunken men and women could be heard. All this darkened the already gloomy atmosphere prevailing in the area.
At some point, the boy, moving forward along this street, caught a strange smell of delicious food from a house right next to him and stopped. This smell didn’t match his surroundings at all. It made the boy walk up to the porch of a three-story apartment building, from which the wonderful aroma emanated. The boy couldn’t pinpoint which apartment the pleasant smell was coming from, but he firmly decided that this was the place where he wanted to stay a little longer.
The boy sat on the porch step under the awning, shielding himself from the rain, and began to watch the downpour. It felt warm here. Nevertheless, the edges of his sweatshirt sleeves, not covered by the leather jacket, and the hood got wet. This prompted him to start squeezing them diligently to dry them as quickly as possible.
Suddenly, behind him, he heard:
– Hi!
It was the voice of a little girl who wasn’t much older than him.
– Hi… – Alex responded with a murmur.
– What are you doing here? – the girl asked.
– Just sitting… – the boy replied.
– Are you hiding from the rain?
– You could say that, – Alex answered with a smile. – Although there’s also a delicious smell here. Can’t figure out where it’s coming from…
– Oh, that’s probably from me… Something special happened with Dad at work, and Mom made a big and tasty dinner for the whole family to celebrate.
The scent made little Alex’s mouth water. He wanted to ask her to share some with him, but all he managed to say was:
– Mm…
– By the way, I’m Anne, and you?
– I’ll tell you if you share something with me!
– Sure, no problem! – surprisingly, the girl said and went home.
When she came out and brought Alex a huge piece of cherry pie, he was completely speechless. Not only did he not expect such kindness from a stranger girl, but he had also only seen cherry pie on display or in pictures before.
– What are you looking at? Take it! – Anne said, offering him a piece of the pie right to his mouth.
Unable to believe the unexpected happiness that had fallen into his lap, he stood motionless like a statue.
– If you don’t want it, I’ll eat it! – the girl then said.
Suddenly, Alex snapped out of it, exclaiming, «No, no, I’ll have it!» He quickly regained his composure and, drooling, snatched the enormous piece from her hands.
As Alex greedily devoured the unexpected gift, the girl suddenly remembered something and decided to ask:
– What’s your name?
– Al-ex! – the boy managed to say with a mouthful of pie.
As soon as Alex got the pie, it disappeared in no time, and little Alex, with a stuffed stomach, exclaimed:
– That was so delicious…
Then a thought crossed Alex’s mind to ask the girl for something more for Remy, but after a brief reflection, he realized it would be too presumptuous and dropped the idea. The girl, on the other hand, exclaimed suddenly:
– The rain stopped!
– Indeed, – Alex said, looking around. – Do you want to go for a walk? There’s a playground nearby with swings and slides…
– My family just moved here, and my dad doesn’t allow me to go out alone yet. Although, judging by what he said about this place, he probably won’t allow it later either.
– Why? – Alex asked.
– He says it’s a dangerous neighborhood. He hopes to move away from here soon.
– Well, then we can sit on this porch a little longer, if you don’t mind, of course, – Alex said with a smile.
– I’m all for it! – the girl replied with a smile.
So Alex and Anne talked for a few more hours until the girl’s father finally called her home. It turned out that the girl, like Alex, had no friends. Due to constant moving, she had to study at home. She spent whole days locked in, occasionally allowing herself to go out on the porch or go somewhere with her parents. It didn’t matter to her how Alex was dressed. It didn’t even matter that sometimes a not-so-pleasant smell emanated from little Alex, as he didn’t have the opportunity to bathe often. What mattered to her was how he behaved and that she could chat with him tirelessly. At least, that’s how Alex saw her.
In the following days, their meetings continued day after day. Out of boredom, they could talk for hours about anything. It was the same on this day. Alex, once again, joyfully returned to his familiar basement after meeting with the sweet girl he considered his friend.
«Remi, how are you?» Alex cheerfully asked, entering the basement.
However, Old Remi didn’t respond. As he lay wrapped in his blanket on the mattress, Alex thought he might be sleeping. At that moment, the boy decided to warm up the porridge, which was stored in the coldest part of the basement and was periodically reheated to remain edible. Alex took a large pot of porridge, added water, and placed it on the hot metal pipe, from which steam was rising. Then Alex decided to rinse Remi’s cup, but when he approached, he saw that the cup was full of cold tea that Alex had poured for Remi earlier that morning. Suddenly, Alex became deeply concerned because Remi had never left the cup untouched until the evening.
«Grandpa Remi…» murmured little Alex. «Grandpa Remi!» he exclaimed loudly.
However, Remi did not respond to the boy’s call.
Then Alex grabbed and began to shake the old man, shouting, «Grandpa! Grandpa Remi!» The boy shook him harder and harder, yelling his name louder over time, but the old man remained silent and motionless. At some point, Alex stopped and, with fear deep in his soul, lifted the edge of Remi’s blanket, covering half of the old man’s head. Feeling his heart filled with horror, he saw Remi’s pale and lifeless face. In that moment, Alex placed his hand on Remi’s shoulder and tried to shake him a few more times, but without shouting. Still, there was no sign of life. Removing his hand from Remi’s cold shoulder, Alex quietly said, «Dad…» and then turned around slowly. He walked towards the exit of the basement, equally slow and silent, completely lost.
When he stepped outside, he simply walked wherever his eyes led him. He didn’t care about anything happening around him. He just walked and walked, trying with all his might not to think about anything. Until, by chance or as a result of unconscious muscle memory, he arrived at Anne’s house. Though the sunset was approaching, he knew she shouldn’t be asleep by this time, and he also knew which window emitted light from her personal room. Then Alex realized that an intense desire to talk to someone, to distract himself from horrifying thoughts, had overcome him. So, he decided to somehow reach out to his only friend, this girl, no matter what. The window of her room was quite high, so without much thought, Alex turned over a half-empty metal garbage bin near the building where the girl lived and climbed on it to barely reach the window. However, when he did this, to his surprise, he couldn’t find her or any of her relatives she often told him about. Instead, he saw an elderly woman in the room, surrounded by many cats and several dogs. Then he thought he might have confused something and decided to check two adjacent windows. Moving the garbage bin again, he climbed on it, and in the room, he saw only a few more of the woman’s pets, which likely also belonged to the old lady. Then he checked another adjacent window, but, looking into it, he found nothing but an empty room in semi-darkness.